Binaural beats, brain entrainment and sustained attention (Melnichuk 2025)

EEG showed entrainment at the target frequency (16 or 40 Hz), but binaural beats did not reduce the decline in performance across the task. One combination, gamma beats on a 340 Hz carrier, improved overall accuracy (p = 0.002).

A plain-language summary from binaural's reading notes, edited by Jude Mc. Last updated 10 November 2026. Not medical advice.

The question: Do beta or gamma binaural beats entrain the brain and stop attention from declining over a long task?

What it found

• EEG confirmed entrainment: power density rose at the target frequency (16 or 40 Hz), with gamma entraining more strongly than beta.
• Binaural beats did not reduce the vigilance decrement: performance still declined across task blocks in every condition.
• Gamma beats with the 340 Hz carrier improved overall accuracy (p = 0.002) but did not stop the decline over time.
• White noise helped attention when beats started with the task (p = 0.013), yet white noise also attenuated entrainment.

Limits

• The sample was too small to resolve the highest-order interactions between parameters.
• A pure-tone control is not the same as real-world silence, and the fixed 70 dB volume differs from self-selected listening.
• The tested beats may not match commercially available recordings.
• A college-student convenience sample limits generalizability.

Where this sits

More in the library on attention, memory and thinking. For the wider picture, read Binaural beats for focus and studying.

This is our plain-language reading of the paper. It is not medical advice, and one study rarely settles a question.